This research investigates the relationship between the designer, the pattern maker and the elements that constitute a multiplicity of in-set sleeves.Present sleeve drafting methods represent unpredictable, single-style variations of past methods. They do not vary from the normal non-cohesive practises for any current inset sleeve styles. Current sleeve drafting methods contain only surface explanations for many of the features contained within the sleeve design. Drafting methods are restricted to surface, point-to-point drafting descriptive - they do not convey the actual detailed mechanisms required of the complete scye and sleeve assembly.

My perspective suggests that designing and pattern making has scarcely advanced since the beginning of the nineteenth century, or earlier. Therefore, the principal research question is: How might the role of the designer, the tasks of the pattern maker, the many in-set sleeve styles and related fabrics, be combined to create a unique inclusive in-set sleeve design system that is advantageous to the apparel industry?In order to create a unique in-set sleeve design system, this study incorporates a hybrid process derived from a number of design methods. Case studies of a number of sleeve styles and fabrics, representative of a major percentage of the sleeve design range, are developed to confirm the proposition that although each sleeve is a unique entity, they are, contradictory, all one and the same. This is because they are composed of the same limited number of parts and elements.

The study details the parts and elements that compose the scye (armhole) and sleeves. These are united with a compilation of engineering drawing methods which are explained and analysed prior to incorporation with additional drawing interpretations. The adoption of engineering drawing methods as a base, with further adaptations, to create a new logical sleeve design system, is seen as a complete break from current trial and error practises to a predictable outcomes-focussed process.